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The royal visit to HM Factory Gretna during WW1 with exicted munitions workers.

John Charles Burnham Part 3

By Collections blog

John Charles Burnham comes to Gretna

 

In 1915 Burnham was loaned by his employers to the Ministry of Munitions and became Director of the Board of Management and Superintendent at H.M. Factory, Gretna a post which he held until 1921. During his time at Gretna, he was responsible for the smooth operation of the greatest factory in the world. Spanning nine miles across the Anglo-Scottish border and encompassing two purpose built townships, employing 30,000 people and creating over half of all the cordite produced in Britain during the War. Burnham oversaw it all.

 

In 1917 the King and Queen visited Gretna and Burnham was an integral part of their experience and can be seen in the photograph below standing in between the King and the other man (he is in the middle, walking slightly behind them).

At the end of the War, Burnham was a major part of the Armistice celebrations (his speech on November 11th 1918 was recorded in the local paper, the Annandale Observer as shown below).

 

Illustration of a Breguet plane.

WW1 Plane Postcards Part 2

By Collections blog

Here are some more of the WW1 plane postcards which are being kept in the Museums store. This post will include information about the Royal Aircraft Factory b.e. 2c.

Royal Aircraft Factory B.E. 2c

The B.E. 2c was designed as an inherently stable aeroplane, easy to fly and an ideal answer to the Royal Flying Corps’ fundamental operational requirement for a good reconnaissance aircraft. It first flew on 30th May 1914 powered by a 70hp Renault engine. When it entered service with No.8 Squadron RFC in April 1915, the 90hp RAF engine had been fitted as the standard power plant. The B.E. 2c’s stability was initially well received by service pilots but with the advent of the true fighter Fokker monoplanes and the Albatros biplanes, they became very easy prey, being to stable to avoid attack and too slow to get away. Nonetheless, production of large numbers continued and 14 squadrons of the RFC and one of the RNAS were equiped with this type. It was still in action on the Western Front during ‘Bloody April’, 1917 where it suffered a large number of casulties. It was operated overseas by both the RNAS and the RFC, serving as a bombing and reconsissacne aircraft in Maceedonia and the Middle East, and in the Dardenells and the Aegen.

 

You can see our previous plane postcard here: https://www.devilsporridge.org.uk/ww1-plane-postcards

 

WW1 Railway Mounted Artillery illustration.

WW1 Postcards

By Collections blog

The postcard above shows some soldiers next to a railway mounted seige gun. These postcards from WW1 show soldiers in many different settings during the war for example some show soldiers using an antiaircraft gun, some show soldiers walking with their regiments and some show soldiers being treated for their injuries. You can see some of the postcards below.

 

This postcard shows some soldiers using an antiaircraft gun.

 

This postcard shows one soldier being treated for his injuries

 

Some children's artwork on a wall in The Devil's Porridge Museum.

The Devils Porridge Online Events

By Events

While the Museum is closed we have decided to run some of our Kids Clubs online, these clubs will be broadcast on Facebook live or just posted as a video on Facebook around the time tha. In addition to our online Book Bug sessions we are also going to be running other weekly online activities . On Tuesday afternoons we will be posting an Arts and Crafts video taking viewers through each step in different craft project each week, Wednesday morning at 9.30 our Facebook live book bug sessions will take place, on Thursday afternoons as part of our Young Historians Club a new history activity sheet will be made available on our website and through a link on our Facebook page and on Friday afternoon via our Facebook page we will either have colouring activities or a drawing workshop video.

 

Tuesdays – Posting an afternoon Arts and Crafts video taking viewers through each step in different crafts projects each week.

Wednesdays – Tune into our Facebook live Bookbug session at 9.30am

 

Thursdays – For our Young Historians club a new history activity sheet will be made available on our website and on Facebook.

Fridays – On our Facebook page will have either colouring activities or a drawing workshop video.

Postcard with an illustration of a angry lady and a man with a bucket on his head.

Cartoon WW1 Postcards

By Collections blog

These postcards were recently donated to the Museum and are humorous cartoon postcards from WW1 during wartime. You can see all of the postcards below.

 

 

These postcards came with a large amount of postcards which were donated to the Museum which included ones with old photos of Gretna and Carlisle on them and also some with birthday wishes etc on them (which we will be posting at a later date).

 

 

Illustration of Bristol Scout plane.

WW1 Plane Postcards

By Collections blog, News

These postcards are currently being kept in the Museum’s store. They are information postcards about planes from World War One. We have many more of the postcards which we will make posts about in the coming weeks. This is the Bristol scout which was produced from 1914-1916 with 374 being made in that time.

 

 

Bristol Scout

The Bristol Scout, powered by an 80hp Gnome engine, first flew on 23d February 1914. After modifications to the undercarriage, wings and rudder, Scouts were sent to the Western Front for operational testing in September 1914 and orders were soon place by RFC (Royal Flying Corps) and RNAS (Royal Naval Air Service). Those for the RFC were delivered in March 1915 either singly or in pairs to reconnaissance squadrons where their duty was to protect the unarmed two-seaters. Armament varied at first from a fixed Lee-Enfield or carbine, a Mauser pistol, rifle grenades to an obliquely aligned Lewis gun. Then a Lewis gun was fixed mounted on the entire centre section firing forward over the propeller and, eventually, the Scout appeared with a Vickers gun installed using interrupter gear, enabling the machine gun to be fired through the propeller. Bristol Scouts also served with the RFC in Palestine, Macedonia and Mesopotamia. They were flown by the RNAS in the Dardenelles campaign and from coastal stations at home.

Gretna Township Education Authority certificate.

Gretna School Certificates

By Collections blog

While looking through our items in the Museum store we stumbled upon some old certificates from the Gretna Township Primary School from the 1920’s just after the First World War.

We also have some photos of the old school and even a photo of one of the registers from the school with some of the pupils names on it from 1917!

 

 

The certificates are all from the same person and were given to them each year. We only have three of them from 1920, 1921 and 1924.

 

 

We also have some from Annan Academy with the same name on them but we will share these at a later date.

Below you can see some of the old images of Gretna Township School which we have in our archives.

 

This is an old photo of the Gretna Township school

 

 

This is the old register for the class at Gretna Township school from 1917.

 

Watch our social media accounts to see more old photos and documents from the local area in Dumfries and Galloway!

Romany Society Certificate

Romany Society Certificate

By News

Judith Hewitt, the Museum Manager, was given an award by the Romany Society to thank her for organising a talk on Romany on the BBC (G Branwell Evans) at the Museum in 2019. The talk was by David Barnaby who has written about Romany quite widely and donated his archive of Romany research to the Museum. Before finding fame as ‘Romany of the BBC’, G Branwell Evans was a Methodist Minister in Carlisle. He had strong views on the State Management of alcohol scheme (which he published about) and also set up a mission for the workers at HM Factory Gretna with his wife Eunice. They were amongst the people who met the King and Queen during their state visit to the Factory in 1917. Thanks to the Romany Society for recognising the Museum’s work in celebrating anyone connected with HM Factory Gretna in World War One.

 

We have a book about him available from our online shop: https://www.devilsporridge.org.uk/product/reading-romany

Group of Gretna Girls.

Munition Workers Poems Part 2

By News

This is another of the poems from the book which we have in the Museum’s shop. We are posting poems from this book written by women for Women’s History Month this month. This one was written by Elizabeth Easthaugh about the munitions factory in Gretna and is called “Farewell, Cordite!”.

 

You can see the poem below:

 

If you would like to purchase the full book you can see it here:

Munition Workers’ Poems

Castle Gateway in Carlisle on a postcard.

Old Postcards Photos of Carlisle

By Collections blog

Recently the Museum was donated lots of postcards. Some of the postcards have photos of Carlisle and the surrounding area, some have photos of Gretna (will be posted at a later date) and some have cartoons and birthday wishes etc.

 

 

Many of the postcards which we have showing Carlisle during the First World War with one even showing the Carlisle Women Munition Workers Football Team (shown below).

 

 

The two images below show the interior and exterior of the Gretna Tavern in Carlisle.

 

 

The photo below is of Warwick Road in Carlisle from 1923

 

The photo below is of the War Memorial Bridge in Carlisle

 

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